Shane (Remington Ranch Book 2) (3 page)

“Are you all right?” Carter asked again.

Shane met his gaze. Maybe he should tell him? Hell no! He squished that thought as soon as it popped up. He could have any woman he wanted—as many women as he wanted. He would just have to live with the discovery that Cassidy was the woman he wanted more than any other. If anyone deserved to be happy it was Carter, and if he thought Cassidy might make him happy, then so be it. Shane wasn’t going to mess with his chances.

Chapter Three

The next morning Shane closed up his office and crammed his hat down on his head. The guests were all out on their daily activities. Most were on a picnic ride down to Dailey Lake, a few had taken the minibus down to the park, and the rest were hanging around the ranch relaxing. He was heading up into town again. He was only going because he needed to get to the post office. That was all. He was going to stop into the Moonstone Gallery while he was up there. But that was just so he could keep his word to Gina and Cassidy. He’d promised them a while back that he would put them in touch with some of his former guests. He really did want to do whatever he could to help them sell their new line of art. He was hoping he could provide them with a steady stream of clients. If he happened to discover anything about how Cassidy felt about Carter while he was there, well that would just be coincidental, wouldn’t it?

He second-guessed himself all the way up the valley. He shouldn’t go anywhere near her if Carter was interested. But he needed to know if it was mutual. That would help him do the right thing—back the hell off. He should stay away, but he had promised to help with marketing leads. He should stay away, but he wanted to see her. He needed to see if the effect she always had on him would still be as strong. Would his attraction for her wither and die once the thrill of the chase was removed from the equation? How could he still be thrilled by chasing a woman his brother was interested in? He took his hat off and threw it onto the passenger seat. What the hell was he doing? He should just turn around and head back to the ranch, put Cassidy out of his head and go console himself with Lena. He put the accelerator to the floor as he turned north—toward town.

~ ~ ~

Cassidy stepped back to observe the canvas. She was pleased. She loved working on this new line with Gina. They hadn’t been working together for very long, but they understood each other so well. Gina’s photographs captured the landscape and the wildlife so vividly, while Cassidy’s paintings reflected the feel, the colors, and the contrasts in a much more impressionistic way. She knew between the two of them they would appeal to a very broad range of buyers. She looked up as Gina came in.

“That, my friend, is beautiful!”

“Why, thank you. I was just thinking the same thing,” she said with a laugh.

“”Modest, aren’t we?”

Cassidy shrugged. “Honest is what I prefer to call it. I’m good. I know it. I have the millions to prove it.”

“And I envy you,” said Gina. “Not the millions, though of course I wouldn’t mind joining you. I mean your confidence. No, that’s not right. Your…what is it?”

“Self-acceptance?” asked Cassidy. “I know I come off as fairly egotistical to most people, but that’s their problem not mine. For some reason we’re all encouraged to hide our light, how does that go? Under a bushel? Whatever a bushel might be. I don’t see the point in that. I don’t see why we shouldn’t all stand up and own our accomplishments. I know I piss people off, but I really don’t care. I love what I do, I happen to be talented at it, and that gives me great pleasure. People are either jealous, or too bogged down in social conventions in the belief that we shouldn’t toot our own horns for the fear of offending someone else. I’m not going to curb my own enjoyment of my life and my talents. I’m not going to smallen myself just to live down to someone else’s expectations. Sorry, not sorry.”

Gina laughed. “Smallen? Is that even a word?”

Cassidy smirked. “If it isn’t, it should be! So many people, especially women, smallen themselves in order to keep other people happy. In order not to threaten the little egos of the men around them.”

Gina raised an eyebrow. “This sounds as though we’re heading into interesting territory. Want to tell me more?”

Cassidy shook her head. “Not until we have a whole evening and that good wine we were talking about.”

“Okay. I’ve told you before and I’ll tell you again. You name the day, and I’ll bring the wine.”

“How about tonight?”

“Nope. I can’t do tonight, I’m going over to see my dad. And tomorrow’s no good either. We’re meeting Carter at the Mint. He said he’d come out for dinner, and that’s a minor miracle in itself. You could join us? It’ll be more likely beer and a burger than good wine, but we’ll have a laugh, and we usually have a game of pool when we go there, too. Do you play?”

Cassidy grinned. “That sounds like fun. I need to talk to Carter about his landscaping ideas for my place anyway. And as for pool—do I play?” She chuckled. “Hell yes, I play. I used to be quite the hustler in my day. Just don’t tell the guys, we can play doubles and kick their asses. How does that sound?”

“Like a lot of fun,” said Gina.

“Okay then. I’m in.”

She looked up at the sound of the buzzer when the gallery door opened. All the little hairs on the back of her neck stood up when she saw him, sending goose bumps chasing each other down her spine. She pressed her lips into a thin line to ensure that they didn’t respond in kind to the infuriatingly gorgeous smile on his face.

“Good day, ladies.”

“It was, until about a minute ago. What do you want now?” she asked.

Gina shot her a
why-do-you-have-to-be-so-mean?
look. “Hi Shane. How are you doing?”

“You already know what I want, sweet Cassidy. I thought I made that clear yesterday.”

She took a deep breath, remembering the feel of his tongue on the sensitive skin of her wrist—oh, he’d made it very plain indeed!

He gave her a knowing smile before turning to Gina. “I’m doing great, thanks, G. I wanted to talk to you both about hooking you up with the ranch guests to sell your pictures.”

Cassidy rolled her eyes. She’d heard about Shane hooking up with the ranch guests himself. “I understand you get quite close to your guests.” She could have kicked herself for saying it out loud.

He turned that smirk back on her, making her want to kick him instead. “I just like to give them what they want. Show them a good time, you know?”

“Pft! I know what your idea of a good time is, Shane Remington!”

He had the audacity to laugh. “You have no idea, but I can show you if you like?” He raised an eyebrow, as if he was honestly waiting for an answer that he might like.

“No, thank you. I prefer real men to little boys.”

His eyebrows lowered, for a moment he looked angry, then he laughed and shrugged it off. “Yeah, I’m just the littlest brother. You prefer an older one, huh?”

What the hell was he talking about? She hadn’t been talking about age, she’d just meant to imply that he was immature, but he seemed to be making it personal. He thought she preferred his older brother? Mason was with Gina, she barely knew Beau…then it dawned on her. Carter had been on his way to see Shane last night when he came to her place. Had Shane put two and two together and come up with five? She recovered quickly, nodding as she smiled. “I do.”

Damn, she’d expected a snappy comeback, but he looked like a puppy who’d just been kicked! “Good to know,” was all he said.

Gina scowled at her as she put a hand on Shane’s arm. “When you two have finished bickering, do you want to tell us what you have in mind with the ranch guests?”

He nodded and held Cassidy’s gaze for a long moment before his usual cocky smile returned. “Sure do. I figured if you’d like I can hang some of your pictures at the ranch, so they can buy them right off their bedroom walls if they want. If you can come up with a rack card or something, I can include it in the welcome packs, and if you can give me something to include in the monthly newsletter to previous guests, I can get that out next week.”

Cassidy felt bad. He was going out of his way to try to help them. “They’re all great ideas. Thanks, Shane.”

He nodded and turned back to Gina. “I need to get going, but if you want to give me a shout when you pull something together, I’ll come over to the cottage and we can go over it.”

Oh. Cassidy’s heart sank. He was deliberately excluding her and she didn’t like it at all. She’d been looking forward to going over marketing ideas with him. She admired what he was doing with the guest ranch and figured he must have some good ideas for marketing and promotion. The ranch was always busy and seemed very successful. She bit the inside of her lip—not that she never would have said anything of the sort to him. Now she’d offended him somehow and he was giving her the cold shoulder. She pulled herself together. She should be glad. Now she wouldn’t have to deal with his constant flirting and innuendo.

“I’ll give you a call tonight, how about that?” asked Gina.

“Sounds like a plan. Talk to you later.” He tipped his hat at Cassidy as he left, but didn’t say a word.

She breathed a big sigh of relief when the door closed behind him. Her moment of relief was short lived though. Gina turned on her.

“What did you do that for?”

“Do what?”

“You know damned well what! You even gave me the impression that you were interested in Carter when you said you prefer an older brother. I’d believe it, if I didn’t know full well that your only interest is in his landscaping skills!”

Cassidy shrugged and pushed her hair back over her shoulders. “It got him off my back, didn’t it?”

“Oh, it did that all right. You won’t have to worry about Shane bothering you ever again!”

“What? What do you mean?” She was surprised at the rush of disappointment at the thought of not having to spar with Shane anymore. Especially at the thought of
never
.

“I mean, you don’t know the Remington boys. They look out for each other like nothing you’ve ever seen. If Shane thinks there might be something between you and Carter, he’ll do everything in his power to make it happen. Carter has been single for a long time; we’d all love to see him find himself a woman and be happy again.”

“Oh.” She didn’t know what else to say. She felt bad that Shane had a decent side she hadn’t been aware of, and she had inadvertently used it against him. She felt even worse at the thought that he wouldn’t be bothering her anymore. Though surely that was just a prick to her ego, wasn’t it? It should be a relief to know she’d got him off her back.

Gina was studying her closely. “You’re not interested in Carter, are you?”

She shook her head. “Not like that, no. He’s a wonderful guy, but not for me. I’m very interested in what he can do out at Mill Lane, but that’s about it.”

Gina shook her head. “Well I hope all your bravado about not being interested in Shane was true, too, because you won’t have to worry about him now.”

Cassidy nodded. She couldn’t believe how disappointed she felt. “The most that would have ever happened between Shane and me would have been a one-night stand that we both would have regretted. I probably did us both a favor by averting that disaster.” Even as she said it, she realized she’d rather have had that than nothing.

~ ~ ~

Shane parked up at the barn. He didn’t feel like sitting around the cabin, and he sure as hell didn’t feel like going to hang out at the evening campfire with the guests. He made his way down the row of stalls until he came to Cookie. The gelding nickered and came to chew his lapel. Shane grinned and rubbed his velvety nose. “How you doing, old fella?”

Cookie pawed at the ground and nodded.

Shane laughed. “You’re a wise old soul, aren’t you? Damn I wish you could talk. Tell me what the fuck I’m supposed to do now.”

The horse head butted his shoulder, making him chuckle. “You think I’m an idiot, right?”

He turned sharply at the sound of laughter behind him. Mason.

“I’ve always said horses make better therapists than therapists do.”

Shane laughed. “And where’s the cowboy wisdom in that one?”

“Think about it. People go see therapists to help them work their problems out. The therapist lets them talk and doesn’t interfere with the process so they can reach their own conclusions. When we have problems we come see the horses. We talk and, since the horses can’t talk back, we have to work through it and reach our own conclusions. The end result is the same, except it costs a lot less.”

Shane smiled. It was true.

“So what’s your problem that you need wise old Cookie’s help? You usually resolve, or at least escape from, your problems in bed.”

Shane heaved a big sigh. “No problem really. In fact, I should be happy.”

“Bullshit. You’re a long way from happy, and that’s not like you. What’s going on?”

“I think Carter might finally be ready for a woman in his life.”

Mason cocked an eyebrow. “And why would that be a problem for you?”

Shane sighed again. “Cassidy.”

Mason leaned back against the wall and tipped his hat back. “That doesn’t sound right. Doesn’t sound right at all.”

“Tell
him
that. In fact tell
her
that while you’re at it!”

“He likes her? She likes him?”

“Yup.”

“And they both told you this?”

“Not in so many words, no. But…”

“But nothing then, little brother. Don’t go deciding all by yourself what people think or want. Wait for them to spell it out for you, or you’re in danger of getting it all wrong. Believe me.”